Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for bi-directional communication with an implantable medical device (IMD), and more particularly between an external device and an IMD.
An IMD is a medical device that is configured to be implanted within a patient anatomy and includes one or more electrodes that either receive or deliver voltage, current or other electromagnetic pulses (generally “energy”) from or to an organ or tissue for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. In general, IMDs include a battery, a pulse generator and/or a microprocessor that is configured to perform diagnostic monitoring, manage communication with an external device, control patient therapy and the like. The components of the IMD are hermetically sealed within a metal housing (generally referred to as the “can”).
IMDs are programmed by and transmit data to external devices controlled by physicians and/or the patient. The external devices communicate by forming wireless bi-directional communication links with the IMDs. Recently, it has been proposed to communicate with IMDs using commercial protocols, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which are compatible with commercial wireless devices such as tablet computers, smartphones, and the like. It has been proposed to enable numerous types of mobile devices to communicate wirelessly with IMDs through software applications loaded on the mobile devices. For example, an application may be offered online for download to a smart-phone, tablet device or other portable device, where the application enables the mobile device to communicate with one or more types of IMDs. Once the application is downloaded, the communications protocol (e.g., BLE) requires fine tuning with different parameter values for each type of mobile device. However, a challenge that remains for recent proposals is to accommodate a large number of mobile device configurations and find preferred BLE parameters for a large number of mobile device configurations.